God Has a Plan for Your Need

God has a plan for your need. Even when circumstances seem illogical or overwhelming, the Lord is quietly arranging a breakthrough far greater than anything you imagined. The story of Elisha and the widow reminds us that God meets national crises and personal struggles with the same faithfulness.

When we trust God in times that make no sense, we can be sure He is up to something tremendous.

Elisha was given a very wide ministry—as wide as one can imagine. In 2 Kings 3, he deals with heads of states, with kings, with national events. What he did in 2 Kings 3 was to save Israel from starving by defeating the Moabites.

In 2 Kings 4 we find him dealing with an individual person in trouble; the God of the nations is the God of the individual hurting person. It reminds me of a comparison between Acts 2 and Acts 3. In Acts 2 the Gospel reaches thousands. In Acts 3 God shows compassion on one man. But the result is that thousands are saved.

Jesus said that he who is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much (Luke 16:10).

In 2 Kings 4 Elisha deals with a widow. She was loosely connected with Elisha—the wife of a man from the company of the prophets (v.1 NIV). “You know that he revered the Lord,” she says to Elisha. She is, in a way, putting Elisha on the spot, implicitly making a case that she is entitled to something from Elisha. He does not rebuke her. This does show that Elisha knew the man who died. This also shows that the woman was of some stature—she had access to Elisha. It is sometimes helpful to be connected to someone who has access to a sovereign vessel.

Perhaps it is like knowing someone who knows Billy Graham or the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The point is, in 2 Kings 3 Elisha is dealing with nations; in 2 Kings 4:1–7 (NIV) he is dealing with someone who has a personal problem. She is a widow; her husband was a prophet although of a low profile. She is having financial problems owing to her husband’s death and debts he left behind. “His creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves,” she says to him (v. 1).

How do you suppose Elisha responds to this widow? How does God respond to a person who is in desperate circumstances like this? We may think of various options:

➢ Would God attack the creditor—strike him dead for such ruthlessness? We saw how bears mauled the lads who made fun of Elisha’s bald head.
➢ Would Elisha advise the woman to ask the creditor to be reasonable? Surely it is not right that this creditor would take her two boys to be slaves.
➢ Would Elisha get people to fast and pray that this ruthless creditor not be so cruel?
➢ Would Elisha take up an offering to pay this woman’s financial obligations?

This story is another example of the unpredictable ways of God. Who could have imagined that God would help this woman in her predicament as Elisha instructed her? Here is what he tells her:

➢ She is to begin with what she has—a little oil.
➢ She is to ask people for empty jars—no doubt jars that are useless to the neighbors.
➢ She is not to ask for money but for items that are not important to the neighbors.

The result: God Himself steps in after she obeys the prophet. She begins with what she has: a little oil. She therefore exhausts her personal resources.

She could have argued, “I need help; that is not going to help me with my problem. What are empty jars going to mean to me?” But she did not complain or question; she respected the wisdom of the prophet although it may have made no sense at the time.

The truth is, the answer was right under her nose!

It is a typical way of how God deals with us. He puts to us a proposition that makes no sense at the time. He said to Abraham that his seed would be as the stars of the heavens. Lo and behold, Abraham believed God, and his faith counted as righteousness (Genesis 15:6). Later He told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. It made no sense, but Abraham obeyed. As a result, God swore an oath to him. It goes to show that when we trust God in times that make no sense—when God hides His face—He is up to something tremendous.

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Believe that God has a plan for your need. Take a step of faith by sowing a seed today and trust Him to turn your
obedience into supernatural provision. Plant your seed now and expect the God of Elisha to move on your behalf.